The present invention relates to processes and apparatus for the commercial preparation of food products, and in particular to a process and apparatus for simultaneously depositing, flouring, and flattening raw food products on a conveyor belt prior to cooking.
Various types of conventional food preparation devices are typically utilized in the high-volume cookie production industry. A typical cookie-making process includes a variety of separate devices, each of which performs one of the specific functions of flour depositing, food depositing, or food flattening. Currently available devices for food depositing and flattening are not well suited for use with more adhesive food products, such as high sugar, high moisture content dough. Typical food depositors employ a plurality of overlapping, relatively slow moving blades relatively positioned in an "iris" configuration to cut off pieces of food product as the food product is discharged from a extruder tube; sticky dough is prone to adhere to these overlapping blades, requiring frequent maintenance to remove the build-up of dough particles. Also, flattening devices of the prior art often cause the pieces of food being flattened to split open, especially along their outer edges. When such splitting occurs, the exposed inner regions of the food pieces are likely to adhere to the components of the flattening device, again requiring frequent maintenance to remove the stuck-on food particles.
As in example of these representative problems and disadvantages, the "dough dropper" disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,369 utilizes iris-type cutting blade arrays or "valves" to shear off lumps of dough as the dough exits the extruder tubes. While the use of such multi-bladed iris valves is acceptable for severing most types of cookie dough extrusions, these valves are not suitably reliable when extremely sticky food products are extruded due to the relatively slow operating speed of the three overlapping blades in each valve. Additionally, iris valves are expensive to manufacture and require frequent maintenance due to the large number of moving parts and the abrasiveness of the dough particles which adhere to the blades.
The "flattening and flour dusting device" of U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,822 comprises a two-station apparatus which first distributes and removes excess flour from lumps of cookie dough, then presses the lumps into the desired configuration. The two stations consist essentially of two rows of inverted cups--one row for dusting and one row for flattening. Each cup used for flattening contains a mechanically operated piston which performs the actual flattening of the dough lumps. One pair of hydraulic pistons raises and lowers both rows of cups simultaneously, and a second pair of hydraulic pistons actuates the flattening pistons within the second row of cups. A significant disadvantage of this conventional apparatus is that only one station is responsible for the entire flattening process. When pieces of food product, such as cookie dough, are flattened in a single step, they frequently split open around the edges, exposing the more adhesive interior surface of he food item. This splitting phenomenon results in defective end products, and allows the newly-exposed interior to stick to the cups utilized for flattening. Consequently, the second row of cups must be cleaned frequently to remove the stuck-on food, causing increased maintenance costs and unacceptable periods of down-time.
Another inherent disadvantage of the "flattening and flour dusting device" of U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,822 is that the device is quite complex in both its structure and operation. For example, the plurality of hydraulic pistons and cylinders used to operate the second row of cups requires additional synchronization means, resulting in increased manufacturing and maintenance costs.
In view of the foregoing, it is a object of the present invention to provide a food depositing and flattening apparatus and associated methods which eliminate or minimize the above mentioned and other limitations and disadvantages typically associated with food depositors and flatteners of conventional construction.